Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land | Review Thread

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
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Game Information

Game Title: Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land

Platforms:
  • PlayStation 5 (Mar 21, 2025)
  • PlayStation 4 (Mar 21, 2025)
  • Xbox Series X/S (Mar 21, 2025)
  • Xbox One (Mar 21, 2025)
  • Nintendo Switch (Mar 21, 2025)
  • PC (Mar 21, 2025)

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 80 average - 69% recommended

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Metacritic - 81 average based on 19 Critic Reviews

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Critic Reviews


Atarita - Atakan Gümrükçüoğlu - Turkish - 70 / 100
Despite its vast open world, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land can feel repetitive at times. However, its engaging turn-based combat mechanics and tactical depth make for an enjoyable experience.


But Why Tho? - Kyle Foley - 8 / 10
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is an enthralling experience that pushes the Atelier franchise into a new era. There is so much to see and do while uncovering new mysteries that affect the world and its inhabitants on a profoundly personal level.


COGconnected - Nicola Kapron - 80 / 100
Quote not yet available


Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - 8 / 10
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land feels like an exciting shakeup for the long-running series with some interesting changes.


Digitally Downloaded - Matt Sainsbury - 4.5 / 5
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a committed effort by Koei Tecmo to further grow the series and find a new audience. It means that some of the Atelier traditions have been firmly and, on the back of the Ryza series, likely permanently behind.


DualShockers - Erin Rice - 8.5 / 10
Quote not yet available


Eurogamer.pt - Bruno Galvão - Portuguese - 4 / 5
Atelier Yumia is definitely a new era for the series, more dynamic, more ambitious, with the ability to attract new players without losing what veterans like. The combat system is a lot of fun, the storyline interesting and the minor problems don't detract from the overall experience.


EvelonGames - Joel Isern Rodríguez - Kaym - Spanish - 8.2 / 10
Atelier Yumia The Alchemist of Memories and the Imagined Land is an excellent entry point for new players and a refreshing installment for veteran fans of the series. Most of its gameplay innovations are well executed, with the open world, revamped alchemy system, and engaging characters standing out the most. While it’s not perfect, particularly in the implementation of the motorcycle and the lack of difficulty in combat, the overall experience is highly enjoyable.


Final Weapon - Angelus Victor - 4 / 5
Atelier Yumia is a great starting point if you've never played an Atelier game before. There's this constant feeling of discovery as you go through each and every spot marked on the map. It does have some rough spots, but Gust is on the right path if their idea is to make future titles in this open world format.


GAMES.CH - Franziska Behner - German - 73%
The "Atelier" series has changed quite a bit with Yumia. It's somehow more mature, more grown-up, and a whole lot darker. "Atelier" fans will recognize this from the older installments of the series.


Game Lodge - Jean Kei - Portuguese - 8 / 10
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a renovated take on the franchise, but without forgetting what makes Atelier so special. Even though it takes a while to pick up, the game has key moments that captivated me and taught me to love the game's cast. It's a game that resembles a conventional RPG in many ways, but with touches that only those who work extremely well with characters and value daily life know how to put in and get right. Some long-time fans may feel a little lost, especially at the beginning, but if you welcome this game with open arms, it will have a lot to offer you.


Game Rant - Katelyn Kivel - 9 / 10
Despite a few growing pains, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land is a worthwhile entry in the long-running franchise.


GameGrin - Mike Crewe - 8.5 / 10
Possibly the best Atelier game to date, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a thoroughly enjoyable, and rather cosy, RPG that anyone can easily sink hours upon hours into.


Gamer Guides - Lowell Bell - 72 / 100
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land manages to stand on its own two rocket-powered high heels through the strength of its comfortable cast and flashy, fun combat. I still wish the open-world puzzles and base building weren’t so shallow and derivative, even if Atelier Yumia doesn’t penalize you too much for not engaging with them. This isn’t the major shift toward the mainstream that the series needed but if your expectations aren’t too high, you’ll have a great time exploring Adaliss with Yumia and her friends.


Gamersky - Chinese - 7.5 / 10
It's clear that Atelier Umia is trying to modernize the series, but when you start down the wrong path, every step forward only leads you further astray. An overly simplified alchemy system and a formulaic open world strip away the series' most essential charm, leaving behind a beautifully crafted shell that ultimately feels hollow. No matter how polished the presentation, it's hard to truly love a game that has lost its heart.


Generación Xbox - Spanish - 89 / 100
The narrative, centered on the memories and secrets of alchemy, is supported by deeply rooted character interactions that will leave you spellbound on this beautiful journey that begins on Xbox.


Hobby Consolas - David Rodriguez - Spanish - 78 / 100
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Imaginary Land isn't the definitive installment in the series, but its ideas and new approaches establish it as a perfect entry to attract new fans looking to enjoy a JRPG formula that's unusual in the genre.


Impulsegamer - Abdul Saad - 3.3 / 5
All in all, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land introduces many great concepts and features but fails to be wholly entertaining. It contains unnecessarily tedious features and awful performance that will hopefully be fixed post-launch.


Le Bêta-Testeur - Patrick Tremblay - French - 8.9 / 10
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land proves that the franchise continues to evolve in the right direction. With its more open world, refined combat system, and captivating soundtrack, it's a must-have for JRPG and alchemy fans.


Loot Level Chill - Lyle Pendle - 9 / 10
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land is a bold new direction for the series, with particularly great combat.


Niche Gamer - Throgmorton Belmont - 8.5 / 10
The combat system is gonna be competing in uniqueness against Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I have to hand it to Gust with what they were able to accomplish with their team this time. Using fantastic references, they have made another fantastic recipe with Atelier Yumia that will please ongoing fans.


Nintendo Life - Mitch Vogel - 7 / 10
In most respects, Atelier Yumia is an impressively ambitious and strong new entry for the long-running series, blazing a trail to parts unknown much like its titular protagonist. Things like the darker story, action-heavy combat, and increased focus on exploration gameplay all work well in its favor. The only major complaint is that this was clearly designed with much stronger hardware than the Switch in mind, and while its performance here is just about acceptable, it's very far from ideal. At any rate, we'd give this one a recommendation not only to long-time Atelier veterans, but also to fans of other vast JRPG adventures such as the Xenoblade series. Atelier Yumia is a bold step forward for this franchise, and it stands as a strong indication that the Atelier series has a lot of life left in it yet.


NintendoWorldReport - Allyson Cygan - Unscored
That all being said, Atelier Yumia is a game I think you should experience, either if you are an experienced Atelier fan or are looking for a new entry point into the series. While I have yet to finish the game (hence why this is a review in progress)I am thoroughly enjoying everything new and old that Atelier Yumia has to offer. If this is the future of the Atelier series, the future is looking bright for Atelier fans.


PSX Brasil - Thiago de Alencar Moura - Portuguese - 90 / 100
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is another excellent release from one of the most consistent RPG series today. The narrative is the highlight, but the combat and synthesis systems bring their own brilliance to a journey that will please both old fans and new alchemists alike.


Pizza Fria - Matheus Jenevain - Portuguese - 8.3 / 10
My time with Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land was a recipe for success, in which the sum of all the high-quality parts more than made up for the ones that weren't so high.


Push Square - John Cal McCormick - 8 / 10
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a wonderfully charming addition to the long-running JRPG series. It's a fantastic jumping in point to the franchise for new players, and has enough tweaks to the established formula to provide a breath of fresh air for existing fans. The story is a little slight, but the appealing characters, streamlined yet robust crafting system, and rewarding exploration make this a recipe for a good time.


Quest Daily - Daniel Anderson - 7.5 / 10
Atelier Yumia is a commendable blend of tradition and evolution, but if you’re planning to get the Switch version, you may want to think again.


RPG Site - 8 / 10
While the combat system has its flaws and the gameplay doesn't innovate much within the open-world genre, Atelier Yumia is a fantastic starting point for newcomers to the Atelier franchise.


Shacknews - Lucas White - 7 / 10
Just like its impressively long and unwieldy title, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a messy game. But it’s a messy game with lofty ambitions and a lot to like, even if which pieces you end up liking are not the pieces you expected or wanted to like, especially if you’re a returning Atelier fan.


TechRaptor - Isaac Todd - 5.5 / 10
Open world Atelier could still work, but Atelier Yumia does a bad job at realising this idea. A generic story, dumbed down alchemy, and lacking open world all lead to a middling RPG.


The Outerhaven Productions - Scott Adams - 5 / 5
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & The Envisioned Land is a fantastic entry into the Atelier series. Yumia is a fantastic protagonist for the series, and Aladiss is a fun continent to explore.


TheGamer - Quinton O'Connor - 4 / 5
If you dropped Final Fantasy VII Rebirth like a hot potato because the phrase “Regional Intel” haunted your dreams, you might need to give this game a skip, but for everybody else out there, expect a bit of a bumpy ride that is ultimately well worth the turbulence.


TheXboxHub - Richard Dobson - 4 / 5
It isn’t so much the story or the crafting elements that will keep you playing Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land, but simply uncovering every corner of this beautifully realised world.


Worth Playing - Chris "Atom" DeAngelus - 8 / 10
Overall, I really like most of the changes in Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land. There are a number of rough spots that keep it from being perfect, but it's a very solid attempt at shaking up the franchise without losing what makes it successful. I can see it being a controversial entry in the franchise due to the shift in tone and gameplay, but it does a lot of things right. I had a great time wandering around, collecting items, and crafting items and weapons. In general, it felt like I was on an adventure. It might not be the Atelier I was used to, but it was plenty of fun.


XboxEra - Genghis Husameddin - 8.5 / 10
Atelier Yumia’s first bout is a fun, open world crafting game that offers more than just clearing icons on a map—its verticality while offering player creativity through movement and housing tools make for a good time. It’s everything its developer has been building towards, and I’ve come away quite impressed with what they’ve got to offer.



 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Open world Atelier could still work, but Atelier Yumia does a bad job at realising this idea. A generic story, dumbed down alchemy, and lacking open world all lead to a middling RPG.


yikes *


* Although I'm personally ok with dumbed down alchemy, it was always a hindrance in the Ryza games to stop pivotal narrative points because you're not high leveled enough in Alchemy.
 
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HercRaato

Member
yikes *


* Although I'm personally ok with dumbed down alchemy, it was always a hindrance in the Ryza games to stop pivotal narrative points because you're not high leveled enough in Alchemy.
I agree. I really enjoy the Atelier games, but the pacing is just horrible at times.

I already have this pre-ordered I'll play it after I finish Daybreak 2
 

mèx

Member
For comparison (OpenCritic numbers):
Ryza - 80
Ryza 2 - 81
Sophie 2 - 82
Ryza 3 - 82

The Switch version doesn't seem great so that's why it might be a couple points below the usual ~80.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
PC port and Steam Deck & ROG Ally impressions from RPG Site:


Atelier Yumia Steam Deck performance​

Atelier Yumia on Steam supports Steam Cloud and runs at 16:9 aspect ratio resolutions only. When launching it for the first time, I initially thought it would run without issues on Steam Deck after the promising opening area, but that prologue location was much smaller in scope than what followed. When getting into the open world within an hour of playing, I realized this was a 30fps target game for Steam Deck. In fact, if you play at the "Standard" graphics preset, Atelier Yumia runs between 24 and 35fps at worst. This setting also uses XeSS balanced.

Atelier Yumia ROG Ally performance impressions​

In its current state, Atelier Yumia is a bit rougher on ROG Ally. I say this not because of the performance, but stability. I regularly ran into the game crashing when changing graphics settings while in-game. This doesn't happen on Steam Deck at all or when doing the changes on the title screen on ROG Ally. Barring that, I was curious to see how I could push Atelier Yumia on ASUS' handheld. My ROG Ally is set to use 5GB VRAM and I did my testing in the 25W turbo mode.

When playing on the standard preset at 1080p (capped to 30fps) and shadows set to low, Atelier Yumia runs at a mostly solid 30fps with some drops to 27fps in busier moments. The early stress test area of the Atelier building saw dips to 26fps as well. To get a 30fps when running at 1080p, I recommend using XeSS set to performance rather than balanced and the shadows set to low.
 
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JayK47

Member
I liked the complex alchemy more from the older "timed" games. They have been gradually dumbing the whole series down to make it more mainstream. I still plan to play it since I pre-ordered it. I have never been disappointed with an Atelier game. Great developer.
 
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For comparison (OpenCritic numbers):
Ryza - 80
Ryza 2 - 81
Sophie 2 - 82
Ryza 3 - 82

The Switch version doesn't seem great so that's why it might be a couple points below the usual ~80.
I'm really hoping the Switch 2 will run some Switch games better, but I'm not sure I want to take a gamble on that. I hate discs, and don't like the value of digital. Such a conundrum...
 
80s rating is great, but based on some of the review descriptions, it sounds like a game that will go through a roadmap of content updates.

I'm looking forward to playing whatever that is a year or so from now, as I think this looks enticing enough to be my first Atelier game, based on the gameplay I've seen.
 

Mikado

Gold Member

Atelier Yumia Steam Deck performance​

Atelier Yumia on Steam supports Steam Cloud and runs at 16:9 aspect ratio resolutions only. When launching it for the first time, I initially thought it would run without issues on Steam Deck after the promising opening area, but that prologue location was much smaller in scope than what followed. When getting into the open world within an hour of playing, I realized this was a 30fps target game for Steam Deck. In fact, if you play at the "Standard" graphics preset, Atelier Yumia runs between 24 and 35fps at worst. This setting also uses XeSS balanced.

I have no expectations that any modern game is going to get above 30 on steamdeck at this point, so it's nice to hear that this one can be made to get close most of the time at least. Atelier games are great for Cozy Portable play.
 
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